1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and device for attaching a connecting piece such as a tag pin which is used for connecting two members such as label or tag and an article of clothes to each other. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a method of and device for attaching a connecting piece by at first severing one by one a plurality of connecting pieces formed integrally in groups from a plastic, each group having a plurality of connecting pieces arranged in parallel relationship, and then attaching a severed connecting piece to an object, wherein the improvement resides in that the connecting pieces are successively fed to the severing position exactly even when the connecting pieces in the group are connected in an irregular pitch.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, connecting pieces 1 made of a plastic as shown in FIG. 2 are used for connecting two members such as a label or tag and an article of clothes to each other. Each of the connecting pieces has a filament portion 1c to one end of which connected is a head portion 1a, while, to the other end, connected is a cross-bar portion 1b. The connecting pieces are formed integrally in the form of a belt or group 3 in which connecting pieces are connected to a common connecting rod 2 through respective connecting portions 1d. In use of the connecting pieces, the belt 3 is put into an attaching device which is adapted to severe connecting pieces successively one by one from the belt 3 and to attach the severed connecting piece 1 to two members such as a label or tag and an item of clothes thereby to connect these members to each other.
It is often experienced that, since the filament portion 1c is freely deflectable, the connecting pieces of a common belt 3 are inconveniently entangled with each other if the pitch P of the successive connecting pieces is too large. Also, when a multiplicity of belts 3 of connecting pieces are accomodated in a box or the like, the belts 3 are likely to be entangled with each other to hinder the attaching work.
These problems have been overcome, however, by reducing the pitch P of the connecting pieces to a size substantially equal to the thickness t of the head portion of the connecting piece. Consequently, the troubles attributable to the entanglement of the belts is eliminated to ensure a higher efficiency of the work. The reduction of the pitch P of the connecting pieces provides further advantages. For instance, the size of the mold for forming the belt is and, accordingly, the path leading to the cavity is shortened. In addition, the temperature spots of the mold is reduced to ensure the production of the belt of connecting pieces having no spot. Further, the forming pressure is decreased attributable to the shortening of the path to the mold cavity.
In the conventional attaching device for attaching the connecting piece, the arrangement is such that the belt 3 of the connecting pieces 1 is fed intermittently by each pitch by means of a gear of the same pitch as the pitch P of connecting pieces. Therefore, the conventional attaching device cannot be used for the belt 3 having connecting pieces disposed at such a small pitch. Another problem resides in that, for avoiding the feeding failure of connecting pieces, it is necessary to improve the pitch of the connecting pieces corresponding to the pitch of gear, so that the cavities of the mold for forming the belt or group 3 of connecting pieces have to be finished at an impractically high precision.
Further, the conventional attaching device can handle only the belt of connecting pieces which has been produced specifically for that attaching device and cannot operate with other belt. This is quite inconvenient from the user's point of view.